IT202000018925A1 - VACUUM PLANE DRIVEN BY WAVE - Google Patents

Description

DESCRIPTION of the invention with TITLE:

? WAVE-DRIVEN VACUUM PLANE ?

DESCRIPTION

1) Technical sector

The present invention refers to the sector of machines and systems which convert the mechanical energy of waves into pneumatic energy to operate an air turbine. Does it concern an aircraft that ? moved by the static pressure exerted by the atmospheric air thanks to a water suction machine driven by the wave motion which maintains the inside of a hollow body at a pressure lower than the atmospheric one in one of whose walls the same ? installed.

2) State of the art

2.1) On the way towards an economy based on the basically exclusive use of renewable energies - by now imposed by the more and more? frequent environmental disasters, caused by extreme weather events - a fundamental role ? destined to carry out the?energy that ? possible to draw from the movement of large masses of water in the seas and oceans (waves, currents, tides).

It is, in fact, an extremely widespread energy (the seas and oceans represent approximately 71% of the entire earth's surface), almost inexhaustible and particularly dense.

2.2) Devices that use the principle of the oscillating water column (Oscillating Water Column - OWC

As regards, in particular, the energy that can be extracted from the wave motion, currently, among the various devices for converting the mechanical energy of the waves into pneumatic energy to operate a turbine, the most? widespread, in terms of number and duration of the plants/prototypes already? installed, ? the one that uses the principle of the oscillating water column.

The relative system, as known, ? basically consisting of a chamber (oscillation chamber) completely open at the base, partially immersed in sea water, in fluid communication, in its upper part, with the external environment through an opening with a reduced section, or a duct, in which ? installed an air turbine, which has the property? to maintain the same direction of rotation, regardless of the direction of the air flow that crosses it (usually a Wells turbine).

The rhythmic rise and fall of the water level inside the chamber, caused by the wave motion, essentially operates like a hydraulic piston which, in the wave lifting phase, compresses the air in the chamber upwards , forcing it to go outside through the turbine, in the wave withdrawal phase, creates, as a result of the lowering of the water level in the chamber, a depression, in relation to which the external air penetrates inside the room.

The flow of air which alternately leaves and enters the chamber sets and keeps the turbine in rotation.

2.3) Advantages and limitations of OWC oscillating water column systems The main advantage of this type of system? given by their extreme simplicity? constructive, from their sturdiness and from the particular reliability? of operation, in that, apart from the turbine, there are no mechanical parts in motion, sich? also the operating, maintenance and repair operations are extremely reduced. Furthermore, if the plant is located along the coast and incorporated/integrated into the typical structures present in the same (such as breakwaters, breakwater barriers and port works in general), it has a very low environmental impact and very low construction costs as they are between the two works.

Alongside the above advantages, regret presents, however, three important criticalities:

- in the first place, the low density? of?energy that ? able to extract from the wave motion. The pressure jump, in fact, that the oscillation chamber ? able to cause the air present inside it, and make it available on the turbine blades, ? closely related to the variations in height, caused by wave motion, of the free surface of the water present in the same, so? ? limited to a few tenths of an atmosphere. This entails the need, in order to obtain adequate power, to build plants with very large oscillation chambers and turbines;

- the low efficiency of the Wells turbine compared to ordinary turbines; - energy dissipation, due to friction on the walls and internal vortices, linked to the fluid dynamic behavior of the air present in the chamber, above the oscillating column of water, forced, at each passage/retreat of the wave, to vary its speed? and direction.

3) General description and advantages of the invention

All the criticisms? above are, on the other hand, superseded by the vacuum unit object of the present patent application.

The same ? basically made up of four components, suitably connected to each other and firmly joined to a fixed structure, either directly to the ground, or to a floating body;

- at least one water suction machine driven directly or indirectly by wave motion;

- a hollow body, which acts as an expansion chamber;

- at least one air turbine;

- at least one duct connecting the inside of the hollow body with the suction machine.

Like the OWC, pu? be installed both along the coast, and incorporated/integrated into the typical structures present therein, and in the open sea.

The water suction machine? constituted, in its essential nucleus, by any artifact, in some types of the system shaped like a siphon, in which the flow of waves that crosses it creates a venturi effect, which sucks in the air present in the expansion chamber through special ducts which fluidly connect the internal part of this chamber with the internal part more? restricted of the artifact.

The hollow body? basically a closed, watertight box which communicates fluidly with the external environment through, at least, two openings: in one, ? installed an air turbine; the other connects directly, or through a tube, the inside of the container with the water suction machine. The caisson has the function of operating copies of the atmospheric air expansion chamber, which, when penetrating inside, activates the turbine. For this reason, the pressure inside the hollow body ? established and maintained at values lower than those of the atmosphere.

The turbine - given the fact that the flow of air that passes through it? unidirectional and ? relatively constant - ? an ordinary air turbine. The working principle? that shown in the summary.

The depression created and maintained by the water suction machine inside inside the expansion chamber implies that the air at atmospheric pressure, operating as compressed air, in the? flow inside the same, makes the rotor blades rotate.

The pressure jump that ? made available on the blades of the same ? given by the difference (usually 0.8 atmospheres) between the pressure of the atmospheric air and that present inside the hollow body.

The air intake duct that is? expanded in the box ? consisting of a tube that fluidically connects ? inside of said box with the inner part pi? restricted area of the venturi, inside which it penetrates directly or, as shown in figure 5, with a space delimited, and hermetically closed, by a trunk of a tube which encloses the venturi. Said space? in fluidic communication with the inner part of the narrow section of the venturi through a series of holes drilled in the wall of the latter

From what has been observed in the previous points, it is evident that the vacuum engine illustrated here, on the one hand, has all the advantages typical of the OWC, on the other, none of the critical points of which yes? given that, given its conformation and operating principle:

- the energy that ? able to extract from wave motion ? more dense, which is why it can? use small-sized, high-speed air turbines? of rotation;

- the air flow that activates the turbine? unidirectional and its speed? ? relatively constant, which is why there is no significant energy dissipation inside it.

It is also possible, with extremely low construction costs, substantially limited to those of building a wall, to incorporate the water suction machine within an ordinary OWC, thus increasing significantly between 20 -30%, the energy that is extracted from the wave motion.

The vacuum engine, therefore, given its energy efficiency, its competitiveness? in terms of costs and benefits, and the possibility? to install it both along the coasts and in the open sea, which, pi? in general, in any marine area characterized by waves even of only 2 meters in height, pu? configure itself as imo of the pi? important plants for the exploitation of the immense energies that can be extracted from the movement of the waves.

4) Detailed description of some embodiments of the aircraft

The following description deliberately does not dwell on the technical details which for an expert in the field can be achieved in various ways and which are, in any case, within his reach. Therefore, the purpose of the present description is to enable the person skilled in the sector to understand the invention and the relative inventive concept in general, to implement it in its various embodiments, also with suitable variations within the scope of the appended claims.

How to ? said, regret, in the basic version ? characterized by being basically made up of the following components:

- a water suction machine driven by wave motion;

- a hollow body which acts as an expansion chamber;

- an air turbine;

- at least one duct which connects the inside of the hollow body with the water suction machine;

- structures that join the various components together and fix the system firmly to the ground, or to a fixed structure, or to a floating body.

Pi? in particular:

- the water suction machine ? constituted, in its essential nucleus, by a duct which, at least in one of its stretches, develops, with a convergent profile, then, for a very short stretch (constituting the narrow section), parallel and then diverging, analogous, in section, in this section, to that of a venturi tube. Normally, ? partially - but, in some versions, completely - immersed in sea water. Given this conformation, the flow of the mass of water that crosses it? forced, in the section with a narrow section, to accelerate its speed, causing, thus, following the decrease in pressure to values lower than the atmospheric one, the suction, through special holes or connecting pipes, of the atmospheric air which, after passing through the blades of the aeromotor, it gradually flows into the expansion chamber.

Depending on the local characteristics of the wave motion, the conformation of the places and the type of plant built, the duct can operate as a suction machine both in the lifting phase and in the wave withdrawal phase.

When the aeromotor ? installed along the coast line and/or integrated in port works, as a rule, the duct ? made up (as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2) of two opposing walls, converging/diverging, firmly joined together and to the structure they access, in which the diverging section that develops above the free surface of the water emerges from the same, when the sea? calm, for a? height correlated to the average wave height recorded on site (Figures 1 and 2).

The water suction machine can have this conformation even when the? plant ? installed offshore. In this case, the two walls surround a floating structure (usually ring-shaped), to which they are firmly joined, rigidly or loosely anchored to the seabed.

The depression that the water suction machine ? able to create in the expansion chamber does not depend on the height of the wave, but? the degree of restriction of the narrow section of the duct. Therefore, even with waves of moderate height, it? It is possible to establish and maintain pressure values not exceeding 0.2 atmospheres in the expansion chamber. The aeromotor can? can also be made in the context of an overtopping plant which takes the form of an essential supplementary component of the water suction machine.

In this case, in fact, the same is not? directly activated by the wave motion but by the flow of the water present in the collection basin of the? overtopping which is discharged into the sea thanks to the existing geodetic jump between the level of the free surface of the water collected in the same and that, more? low, of the sea water that surrounds it.

To increase the capacity? of the suction of the water suction machine and at the same time reduce the energy dissipations dependent on the strong variations in the section of the convergent-divergent section, the suction duct can? be shaped like a siphon, with an arched profile or like that of an inverted U.

In this configuration, the depression that ? possible to get into the column? water flowing in the upper part of the siphon through the venturi ? function not only of the throttle ratio of the latter, and, therefore, of that part of the pressure energy which is converted into kinetic energy, but also of the ?share? (with reference to that at which the free surface of the water flowing into the siphon is located) which is reached by the most? top of the duct, and what? of that (other) part of the pressure energy which is converted into positional potential energy.

The above implies that, suitably combining the bottleneck ratio with the maximum height at which the siphon duct develops, ? is it possible to obtain high depressions even with not particularly pushed throttle ratios, reducing, thus?, as already? said, in a significant way, the energy dissipations dependent on the strong section variations in the convergent-vergent section.

In these versions of the aeromotor, and cio? when combined with an overtopping system, the intake duct can? be constituted both by a truncated tube with a circular section, which is configured along its entire length, like an ordinary venturi tube, immersed vertically in water, the end of which? upper, which acts as an intake mouth for the water to be discharged into the sea, crosses the bottom of the basin of the? overtopping (Figure 3), which, and pi? effectively, from a duct that (also) operates as a siphon, as illustrated in Figure 4.

In the configuration of the siphon intake duct, the vacuum engine can be combined/integrated with an ordinary OWC system, thus significantly increasing the energy that is extracted from the waves that penetrate inside it by about 20-30%.

To this end, as emerges from Figure 6, ? simply create within the swing chamber of the OWC - through the construction/installation of a wall whose height is ? slightly lower than the maximum that, as a rule, reaches the oscillating water column in the wave lifting phase - a second chamber that acts as a collection tank for the water that flows into the OWC in the wave lifting phase. wave and which is then discharged into the sea from the siphon, in the wave withdrawal phase.

The caisson with the turbine and the connected electric generator (or other operating machine) ? installed outside, on the roof of the OWC or in the immediate vicinity, and ? connected to the narrow section of the intake duct, with a special pipe that crosses the roof or one of the walls of the OWC (Figure 6).

It should, however, be specified that the siphon intake duct can? can also be installed astride a fixed or floating structure, with both descending sections immersed in water and with the narrow section section positioned in its most? high.

In this configuration can? constitute the suction pump of any other type of vacuum-operated aeromotor.

5) Brief description of the drawings

The present invention is described hereinafter, with reference to the attached drawings, which illustrate, not to scale, the essential constituent elements of some embodiments of the same:

FIGURE 1 represents, in section, the basic version of the plant in one of its possible constructions along the coast line (in the drawing, a sea pier indicated with the letter M), in non-operational conditions, and cio? when the sea level - represented by the three dotted lines, indicated with the alphanumeric code (hereinafter, more simply code) H0 - ? in quiet. The bottom of the sea? represented by the continuous line, at the bottom of the drawing, indicated with the letter F. The body, which is? installed above the pier, ? indicated with the letter C. With the letter C1 ? indicated a second box. The turbine ? indicated with the letter T and ? installed in one of the walls of the caisson.

The letter A indicates one of the modules that make up - in this version of the system, they are mass-produced and fitted one into the other - the suction machine. Each of them, made of prestressed concrete, is consists of two opposing walls, convergent-divergent, respectively indicated with the alphanumeric characters P1 and P2, whose section corresponds to that of a venturi tube, firmly joined together through special metal structures (letter G), or other forms of junction, as well as to the wall of the pier, so as to hermetically close the space S existing between the two structures P2 and M.

The internal wall, P2, of the suction machine A, at the height where the converging section begins to diverge? crossed by a continuous line of holes, not shown in the drawing, which allow the atmospheric air, conveyed by tube B, from inside the box to space S, which operates as a real duct, to be sucked in, and therefore expelled to external, from the suction machine, when the same, crossed by the waves, is working.

- FIGURE 2 shows the regret referred to in Figure 1, in a variant represented by the fact that the section of the divergent wall P1 which extends downwards continues in its development, for a further section, P3, with an increasingly larger section. enlarged, so as to be able to collect the thrust of part of the mass of water that does not pass through the duct during the wave's lifting phase;

- FIGURE 3 represents a version of the aeromotor built in the context of an overtopping plant. The overtopping plant? indicated with the letter I; codes A1 and A2, the anchoring structures of the same to the bottom of the sea.

The dotted line, indicated with the code HO, indicates the height of the free surface of the water when the sea is at? in stillness; the H1 code, the level of the free surface of the water present in the seawater catchment basin; the letter C, the chest; codes G1 and G2, two metal or other material structures for anchoring the caisson to the overtopping; the codes G3 and G4, of the tie rods which act as additional support structures of the caisson. The letter V indicates the Venturi tube, which ? completely immersed in water, in a vertical position, through which the water collected in the basin of the overtopping drains into the sea below. The holes present in the narrow section of the venturi tube are indicated with the letter F. The letter U indicates the tube in which ? inserted, and hermetically sealed, the convergent-divergent portion of the Venturi tube V. The letter Z indicates the space existing between the convergent-divergent section portion of the Venturi tube and the U tube that encloses it; the letter B, the conduit that conveys the? air that is? expanded into box C in space Z.

- FIGURE 4 shows another version of the aero-engine made in the context of an overtopping plant, which differs from the one indicated in Figure 3, limited to the shape of the intake duct. In this version, the conduit, indicated with the letter S, not only operates as a Venturi aspirator but also as a siphon and ? consisting of a tube that has a curvature similar to that of a U; in its curved part more? high, indicated with the letter V, ? shaped like a Venturi tube, its narrow section? crossed by numerous holes, F, and ? hermetically enclosed inside the trunk of another tube, indicated with the letter T; the two ends? of the condoto S are immersed, l?una, the pi? short, S2, in the water present in the collection basin of the overtopping plant, I, to which the duct is? united, the? other, the pi? long SI, which crosses the bottom of the basin, in the water of the sea which, at a lower altitude, surrounds this plant.

- FIGURE 5 shows, in detail, the section of the duct S, in its most? high where? shaped like a Venturi tube as well as? the spaces, Z1 and Z2, delimited by the tube T, which hermetically encloses its convergent-divergent section;

- FIGURE 6 shows a version of the aeromotor built/integrated with an OWC system, and what? in an oscillating water column system. The letter W indicates the structure of the OWC; the letter G, the electric generator that accesses the? OWC; letter P, a wall that divides the OWC's oscillation chamber in two, creating a second one; the letter S, the suction duct in the siphon-Venturi configuration; the letter C, the body of the aeromotor; the letter T, the turbine; the letter B, the duct that connects the inside of the caisson with the space, Z, existing between the external surface of the Venturi tube and the internal one of the tube which encloses it.

Claims (7)

1) Vacuum aeromotor driven by wave motion comprising: - a hollow body, basically a closed watertight box, which communicates fluidly with the external environment through, at least, two openings, in one of which ? installed an air turbine; in the other, at least, a duct that connects the inside of the caisson with the water suction machine; - at least one air turbine, installed in one of the walls of the caisson; - at least one water suction machine made up of a duct, which, at least in one section, develops with a convergent-divergent profile, immersed, even only partially, in sea water, firmly joined to a fixed structure, or directly on the ground , or to a floating body and fluidically connected with the inside of the hollow body; 2) vacuum aeromotor, as described in claim no. 1 , in which the duct ? made up of two opposing walls, firmly joined together to form a single body; 3) vacuum aeromotor, as described in claim n.1, in which the duct ? made up of a tube trunk. 4) vacuum aeromotor, as described in claims n.1, n. 2 and no. 3, in which the section of the duct that extends downwards below the minimum section, having reached the initial section measurement, continues in its development up to the stopping point, with an increasingly larger section. enlarged, with a shape that tends to correspond to that of a cyclid; 5) vacuum aeromotor, as described in claims n.1, n. 2 and no. 3, in which the conduit has an arc or U-like curvature; ? placed astride a floating body, to which ? united; its two ends? they are immersed in the water of the surrounding sea; 6) vacuum aeromotor, as described in claims n.1, n. 2 and no. 3, in which the duct has an arc curvature or similar to that of a U, its two ends? are immersed, one, in the water present in the collection basin of an overtopping plant or other type of collection basin, also located on land, the other, in the sea water which, at a lower level, surrounds such plant; 7) vacuum aeromotor, as described in claims n.1 and n. 6, in which the suction duct ? placed inside a traditional OWC oscillation chamber; its descending strokes are of different lengths; the relative extremities? are immersed, l?one, that of the stretch pi? short, in the water which in each wave lifting phase flows, by overtopping, into a special chamber/tank or product, installed/made inside said oscillation chamber, the other, directly into the sea water with which the latter? in communication.